


Five times Oliver Queen said no and one time Barry Allen said yes

by Mr_Yaoi



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Stubborn Oliver, non Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-11
Updated: 2015-05-11
Packaged: 2018-03-30 00:09:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3915817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mr_Yaoi/pseuds/Mr_Yaoi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barry wants to go out with Oliver, and Oliver wants to go out with Barry, but Oliver is a stubborn guy and refuses when Barry finally ask him out. Until he can't refuse any more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five times Oliver Queen said no and one time Barry Allen said yes

**Author's Note:**

> I see a lot of those X times character so did this and 1 time he did that, and I wanted to join the club! And this idea felt perfect, but I had a hard time writing it down and I don't feel particularly proud of it, the ending felt flat even, but I did it anyway! #Ijustwanttobeone ofthecoolkids
> 
> Enjoy <3
> 
> Also, this have not been beta'd and english is not my first language, so any feedback is helpful.

The first time was when Barry asked him out was sudden and surprising, even though Oliver should’ve seemed it coming, but in hindsight he knew he didn’t want to see it. It was a time where Barry kept dropping by the foundry on relatively peaceful hours, no crimes were happening and team arrow would simply be chilling or planning something or another. The speedster would appear out of nowhere, illuminate the place with his ridiculous gorgeous smile, stay for at least half an hour and speed away. The whole team were loving the visits and the time he would spend with them, but Barry himself looked fidgety and slightly uncomfortable, even he would still smile and laugh like everything was alright and Oliver would leave it alone, ignoring his instincts that were screaming for him to just go and ask his friend what was wrong. After a week he suddenly realised that he was usually alone when Barry arrived by the foundry, even though his visiting schedule remained the same, and he started to get suspicious about his team plotting something, like a surprise party or something silly of the sort, which he would be grumpy about in the beginning and end up enjoying it in the end, not that he would ever admit it. One day he was polishing his arrows and making sure they were ready for a big heist planned for the next day, stopping a big drug deal that promised plenty of thugs in need of arrows, and he tried to ignore the intense stare that Barry was giving him, all the while sitting uncharacteristically quiet not too far away, when he decided he had enough.

He let out a big sigh and placed the arrow down. “Something on your mind, Barry?” He asked with a small smile as he turned his focus on the younger man. Barry, on the other hand, all but jumped from his sit and turned a fine shade of red that almost had the archer chuckling.

“What, me? Nope, mind completely blank. Well, not completely blank, just thinking of, you know, stuff. Like arrows, your arrows, cause, you know, you are polishing them, and they hurt, I know, took a few already, two in the back if you recall, cause I do. Those left quite the impression. Nasty little buggers. Poor guys tomorrow. Well, not poor really, cause they deserve it, being bad guys and all. Drugs dealers, you know.” He replied in a ramble and all Oliver did was raise his eyebrow, already used to Barry habit of rambling when nervous. Or excited. Or whenever he opened his mouth really. “Well, ok, maybe not just arrows. I was thinking of food, you know. Like, in a restaurant, or fast food place, or a cafe. Where, err, we could go. Like, you and me. On a date. Maybe?” He added the last bit so softly that Oliver almost didn’t catch it and bit his lip nervously.

Oliver felt the air being knocked out of him, completely unprepared for that remark. Or invite. His brain went on a small shut down before restarting as he tried to think of a way to react properly without offending the brunette. He opened his mouth and closed it right after more times than he could count while Barry started to monologue again, how he shouldn’t have asked and it was a stupid idea, that Oliver probably could find someone better and that he lived so far, and many other excuses that made no sense. “Barry….” Oliver said softly and the forensic went silent, “I, I’m flattered. I, I just…” _I would love to!_ , his mind screamed for him to say, “I can’t. It’s, just, so complicated. You, me, this life. I just, can’t. I’m sorry.” He saw the light fade away in Barry’s eyes, tears already pooling and a dry swallow as he took the answer. Oliver wanted to take his answer back instantly, to comfort the younger man, but he knew he couldn’t. Still, his hand moved on its own, slowly moving towards Barry, but the speedster simply nodded and vanished. For the next week Oliver was in an extremely foul mood and the foundry was never so silent. Barry didn’t visit for a while.

The second time he said no wasn’t even to Barry himself, and he is glad for that because he really didn’t want to hurt him any more. It was a few weeks after he had turned Barry down, when his bad mood had somewhat been toned down to his mostly straight forward persona, so things with his team were almost back to normal. Almost. They were still being slightly careful around him and Oliver could feel they all had something that they wanted to say, and he could even guess about which topic, but wouldn’t dare to or knew he wouldn’t listen anyway. Meanwhile, when he found himself alone, he would check the news of Central city and his phone for any new messages or calls, telling himself he was just making sure the Flash wouldn’t do something stupid to get himself killed, not at all like he was waiting for Barry to start talking to him again. One day though he got particularly caught up in the news about this man with a gun that fired ice instead of bullets and the Flash becoming an official existence, not just some Streak rumour, that he didn’t even noticed when someone else walked in the foundry. It was the sound of a keyboard being typed at incredible speed that made him turn off the monitor and turn around straight away.

Oliver saw felicity in her working station typing away and looking into a bunch of numbers and data in the big monitor and had to wonder if she even saw him there. He was about to try and sneak away when she suddenly started talking without even glancing back. “You really should talk to him, you know. You are so focused on the news over there that you will eventually get yourself hurt over here. Well, more than you are now that is.” She added as she span her wheeled chair around and looked at him casually, while chewing on the tip of a pen. Oliver gave her one of his evaluating stare, trying to understand what she meant and how much she knew, but she simply rolled her eyes and stood up. “Seriously, Oliver? You are going to try the scary face on me? It’s so plain on your face that you are hurt and worried about Barry. And that’s saying something cause you are really good at not showing emotions when you want to.” She makes circles with her hand in front of her face to emphasise her point and walks towards him. “Why did you say no?” Her tone was soft and full of concern and Oliver eyes went wide.

“He, told you?” She nodded. He had no ready answer for that. He was hoping no one would find out or ask him about it. All he wanted was for the topic to be left alone and forgotten, so that eventually he and Barry could be friends again. The speedster would find someone he would love, man or woman, and have a beautiful and happy life. House, kids, pets, the works. And Oliver would know he did the right thing. For some reason he couldn’t tell anyone that. Well, he knew the reason, but absolutely refused to accept it. “Felicity, what did Barry tell you exactly?” He asked calm and collected, but the look of concern on her face only deepened and he wondered if was failing at masking his emotions once again.

“He told me he asked you out and you said no, but you looked like you were going to cry.” She bit her lip and Oliver could only guess that she was holding back a comment about how rare it is for him to cry or even look on the verge of doing so. “And that he had to run away before he started crying too.” She adds in a whisper and he is sure that Barry really didn’t want him to know that part, even though he knew the speedster cried. He could still remember those teary eyes. “I just don’t understand why you said no. I always thought you were into him, what with the way you look at him.” Oliver glared at her again, he really wanted her to let this go, but the blond was relentless. “Look, I just think it was too much of a vague no, maybe if you gave him a reason he would get over it faster?” The last question felt more like bait for him to give her some info into the why he rejected the date than a suggestion. “Is it because he is a guy?” Was what followed when he remained silent.

“What? No.” He replied almost instantly, if that was the reason it would be so much simpler. But Felicity raised an eyebrow in doubt and he knew that she was going go in depth on that, like if it is cause he never been with a guy before or he is ashamed of being with a guy and so on. “Look, Felicity, I’ve been with guys before, before the island, in drunken parties, nothing serious, I’ll admit it, but that’s not the reason. I wouldn’t be ashamed to be seen in public with Barry, I would be proud!” And when she grinned gigantically he knew he said far too much and groaned in annoyance. “Fine, you win. I find Barry attractive, big deal.” She remained quiet, for once, big eyes looking at him urging for him to go on and he knew that once he started he may continue. “And yes, I find him boyfriend material, for lacking of a better way to put it, and I may look him in a different way sometimes. Happy?” He said, blaming such confession, such poor worded confession even, to the fact that he was lacking sleep and tired from all the acrobatics he pulled when taking down criminals.

“About the information? Not really, I already knew all that. About winning an argument with Oliver Queen? Oh yeah, that one is going to get a special date in the calendar so I can celebrate it a year from now.” She smirked as he rolled his eyes. “So, what you are saying is, you do want to go out with him.” She concluded, making it sound like a question but Oliver knew she was stating it more than confirming.

“No.” He replied, voice cold and flat, and turned around to leave the foundry. He heard Felicity call him back, many times, before she gave up and let out a long, loud groan and started to ramble how much of a stubborn, idiot he was and how he was wasting time and something else he didn’t hear as he slammed the door behind him.

For the next few days the topic died again, and still no sign or news of Barry – to him, of course, since Felicity was clearly in touch with him still, but he dared not to ask for an update -, and he starts to think that things were finally back on track on returning to normal, he is even sure that he himself is a lot less distracted by the lack of the Flash in his life and has stopped checking his phone and Central news so often. Until the impossible happens. Just like any other day he brought Roy over to the mats to train and warm up for the night, in case they are needed – which is more often than not -, and everything is going as normal, punches and kicks being performed as instructed and blocked accordingly, then they started to fight a bit more uncoordinated, and this was the part where Oliver would drop Roy on the floor, except he was the one who got dropped this time. He didn’t even know how it happened, one moment he was exchanging blows and the next he was staring at celling, jaw dropped and absolutely confused. Roy had, of course, knocked him off his feet before, but that was when Oliver allowed him to, so he could see if his pupil had learned the move properly and how strong he was, but never without Oliver allowing it. He got up, not sure how to react, and found out he wasn’t the only one unsure of what had happened exactly.

Roy eyes were wide and showing a bit of fear, instead of pride he clearly was in fear that he did something wrong and would pay the dear price for it. Felicity kept opening and closing her mouth, trying to figure what to say to that or maybe trying to figure what should _not_ be said. Diggle had a frown on his face, clearly on the same boat as Felicity where he wanted to say something but couldn’t, either cause he didn’t dare or he knew Oliver wouldn’t listen anyway. So it was up for the leader to break the silence. “Good job, Roy, that was a really good move. Didn’t see that one coming.” He said patting the smaller man on the shoulder and turning around, clearly the training was over for the night. 

“Wait, aren’t you going to explain what happened?” Was the reply from the young archer. Oliver turned around and raised an eyebrow, not sure he understood what he meant. “You just went blank man, like gone. You froze. I never saw that happen before. What if this was for real?” The fear in his eyes were gone, completely replaced by concern and a hint of anger, though his voice was showing none of that.

“Guess I’m just tired.” Oliver said with a small smile and tried to let a small laugh out, but nothing came out. He could hear the snort coming from Diggle and almost picture Felicity’s eyebrow going high up in the sky, but all he saw was Roy rolling his eyes and taking a step forward.

“You were thinking about Barry again, weren’t you?” He said bluntly, confidently and angry. Oliver squinted his eyes into his best intimidating scare and let out a warning ‘Roy’ escape his lips, but the younger man did not budge. “Dude, ever since he asked you out you’ve been in the clouds. You are going to get yourself killed. Think if this was any of us! Why can’t you just admit you want to go out with the guy and call him already?” He was all but shouting now, but Oliver could see all this anger was pure concern and fear of losing the man he looked up to.

“You are right.” Oliver said and suddenly Roy looked lost for words, clearly not expecting this. “I am too tired to focus right now. I’m sure you guys can handle anything tonight, but if there’s a big emergency you can call me.” He continued and now Roy was clearly annoyed, he was avoiding the issue here and everyone in the foundry knew it. “And I’ll say this for the very last time, I’m not going to go out with Barry Allen.” His voice was low and was clearly warning that next time someone were to bring this up he would have more to say about it than simply ‘no’and walk away. But that would be next time, for now he had said no and made his way to leave his base. As he climbed up the stairs he could hear Roy’s protests much like Felicitiy’s the other day, asking if he was serious and adding a bunch of reasons why he should take a chance or why he would regret not doing so, something like that, Oliver didn’t pay much attention to it, except that it felt very much like a déjà vu.

The fourth time was the worst, especially since he ended up saying no to Barry himself once more. After a few days since the Roy incident had passed Barry started to show up at the foundry again. He was casual enough, never bringing the forbidden subject up, smiling and talking like always, fighting by Oliver side if he was bored and there was something happening in Starling. Of course things were far from back to normal, the billionaire was well aware of that, the atmosphere was still heavy and awkward, everyone was watching what they were saying, Barry never met his eyes and sometimes his laugh and smile felt forced, something the vigilante could never recall of seeing the speedster do. Oliver did what he usually does best; ignored it and locked his personal feelings under seven keys, hoping everything would go back to normal without they having to talk about it. Until one week a particular big job came up. It was big in a way, but still easy enough for team Arrow to deal with it themselves, but the Flash was in town so why not add an extra set of hands. It was a gun auction, very high tech, military grade stuff, and so well organized that Felicity barely managed to find out it was happening, though after that the when and where was as easy as pie.

The plan was well thought out and revised a number of times. Oliver, Barry and Roy would all come from different sides, Diggles would be the sniper and Felicity would make sure no one was escaping or that the police wouldn’t crash the party. When the big night came also came the surprise that for once the plan was going precisely how they expected it to go. The organizer seemed to be extremely confident in hiding the events of the night so he ended up hiring very poor gunmen and the trio of vigilantes were picking them apart left and right. When everything was set and done the floor was covered in unconscious bodies and Barry was giving the most beautiful smile, one that left all those fake ones feeling like a bad imitation, and Oliver was almost tempted to kiss him. Until he saw one of the men on the floor behind the scarlet hero raise a gun and shoot. Now in his mind the Arrow knew perfectly well that Barry would most likely hear the gun shot and dodge in time, plenty of time for him to turn around, see the bullet and dodge with super speed, or heal after, but his instincts went on a complete opposite direction, causing the older man to dash forward, push Barry out of the way and take the bullet dead on his shoulder.

Oliver fell on his knees, hand on his shoulder as he grit his teeth through the pain. Barry knelt next to him and his face displayed a number of emotions, confusion, concern and then anger, an incredible amount of anger that Oliver never saw displayed on his pure, young face. When Barry looked at the man who shot at them, now passed out – probably used the last of his strength for that single shot -, Oliver knew he was going to kill the man, or get him close enough to it, and quickly grabbed the speedster wrist. “I’m fine.” He said softly, holding back a groan, when Barry looked at him and all the anger was replaced by concern once again before turning into something not quite readable. Barry nodded and walked away.

The ride home was quiet, the victory feeling completely gone and Barry not gracing them with a single word, for once. Oliver followed his example, not sure what to say, and Diggles did the same, a look of disappointment and anger discreetly being displayed on his features. Roy had already gone home and the bodyguard followed suit after dropping the two vigilantes on the Verdant. Barry made his way to the foundry without uttering a word or glancing at Oliver. The archer followed. When they arrived at the secret base Felicity was nowhere in sight. “Sit.” Was all that Barry said as he moved for the first aid kit and Oliver did as he was told without arguing, sitting on the bed they use for when someone gets hurt. The process for removing the bullet and stitching his wound was as quiet as the car ride, Barry being extremely careful and gentle and Oliver not allowing himself to even hiss, or comment at how nice and warn Barry’s hand was and how beautiful his eyes were this close, even when shadowed by silent anger.

Once the forensic was done he inspected his work to make sure it was going to hold and that he didn’t miss anything. “What the hell were you thinking?” He all but shouted when he was done. “Do you have super speed Oliver? Or do you heal incredibly fast? Cause I do! I could have easily dodged that bullet or even heal off it in an hour but you just jumped suddenly and I was too surprised to even react! Are you trying to get yourself killed or something?” Oliver was shocked, speechless, not sure how to even explain what happened and not expecting the burst of anger after such cold shoulder since the incident. “You know, I heard you were acting weird and in danger of doing something stupid when being the Arrow, but I did not expect it to be this bad!” The older man opened his mouth to ask how did he even hear about this, or to deny it, but Barry went on before he could. “Of course I heard about it, why do you think I’m here? Do you think I was ready to be here again, to be in the same room with you after… after you shot me down?” He whispered the last part and looked away. No one spoke for a few seconds, silence heavily befalling them. “It’s not like I wouldn’t come back, but I just wasn’t ready yet. It’s so hard when you keep looking at me with concern and watching everything you do and say. And that hurt look on your face, do you even know you have it?” The speedster looked Oliver in the eye and he had to turn away, suddenly feeling too exposed. “Oliver, you said no on that night, and I thought you only saw me as a friend, but then I come here and you keep giving me this mixed signals.” Barry starts to run a hand on his already messy hair and Oliver doesn’t like where this is going. “Do you, do you have feelings for me or not? Because if you do you have to stop lying to yourself. And me.” He asks and his eyes show that he is almost pleading, like he knows the answer but won’t believe unless Oliver confirms it himself.

Oliver finally manages to get his thoughts together, he understands what he must do, and stand up, the mask that hide his feelings firmly put on as he take one last good look at Barry’s face, is full of sadness, pain and a little hope, and he hates that it’s his fault for it being like that, but it might be the last chance to see this face up close so he appreciate and memorise every detail; the little freckles, his beautiful green eyes, those lips that are just begging to be kissed. Then he gets on with what he has to do. “I’m sorry, Barry, I didn’t mean to give you the wrong impression. I was worried about you, that’s why I kept glancing at you, and when that man shot you I acted on instinct. I truly value you as friend, but that is all.” He says, voice firm and face not letting a single trace of his true emotion be revealed, and still Barry looks at him hard for a long time, trying to find any cracks.

Oliver expect him to eventually believe those reasons and look sad, maybe teary, nod and leave like last time, but that never happens. Instead Barry looks angry and annoyed, crosses his arms and waits a little longer to see if Oliver is either truly done or going to come up with the truth. Oliver stays quiet. “Oliver, you are so full of it, but you know what? That’s fine. I’m done. “He takes a few steps back holding his hands up. “I’m not going to wait around until you decide that you are fooling no one but yourself, so I’m going back to Central and next time I come here it’ll be like nothing ever happens. See you around, Oliver.” He gives one of his huge, breath taking smiles, and Oliver can’t tell if its fake, both because it looked extremely real and he didn’t have enough time to look at it properly, before he vanishes, leaving a whirlwind in his wake. Oliver groan and sits back on the table, letting his head fall on his hand and telling himself he was doing the right thing.

The last time he said no was to no one other than his best friend, Diggles. It was on the same day of the fourth rejection, barely thirty minutes after the incident. He was still sitting on the foundry, head on his hands, no energy left to move after his conversation with Barry, and about to let himself fall on the bed and either collapse from exhaustion or stay awake from the images of angry, sad and annoyed Barry that kept filing his mind, when Diggles suddenly came down the stairs. He knew it was the bodyguard from the heaviness of the footsteps, he just didn’t know what he could possibly be doing here. He looked up, already prepared for bad news of some emergency, and saw the man standing in front of the stairs, blocking his one exit, arms crossed and the same angry and disappointed look on his face that he was showing in the car. “I was really hoping you were going to do the right thing. I was sure I was going to walk here tomorrow and see that you fixed everything, but my gut feeling told me you were wrong so I came to check, and boy was I right to do so.” Was his opening argument and Oliver raised an eyebrow, not quite sure what his point was. “Oliver, you are in love with Barry Allen, it’s something that everyone knows because you can’t help but showing it. You loosen up when he is around, you look happier with him, you are open to him, your eyes always find him before anyone else when you walk in a room, you are irrational when he is in danger, like tonight, I’m even sure you noticed but you hover towards him when you guys are in the same room. So please tell me, are you going to go out with Barry Allen?”

The question came unexpectedly, mostly because Oliver was sure Diggles knew the answer. He expected a bigger rant of why he should go out with the speedster or how stupid he was being. Sometimes reading John Diggles was impossible. “No.” Was Oliver simple answer, straight face and determined tone. The fact that the pain of saying no twice was reaping his heart out was something he would keep to himself. Diggles simply nodded.

“Ok, why not?” He asked, but continued before he could answer. “Because he would be in danger with you? He is the Flash! He has plenty of enemies, just as dangerous as yours, who have super powers of all things. Some even know who he is! Because you killed people and he hasn’t? He knows that! And he also know that you left that life behind and became a better person, one who put the lives of many before your own. Because this,” John waved a hand at him and the foundry. “Will never end and you’ll never be able to have a real life, marriage, kids and picket fence? You don’t know that. For all you know you might retire before he does, and even if it doesn’t he understand your life style. He knows exactly how hard it is to do this job. Sure, he may not have half the experience you have, and I hope to god he doesn’t have to go through some of the stuff we did, but he will and he chose you to share it with. So I ask again, why not?” Now Diggles was giving him the smug look he always had when he was right and knew, and Oliver could do nothing but open and close his mouth with no arguments left. “Yeah, I thought so. Do us a favour Oliver, stop lying to yourself and let yourself be happy for once. Barry knows you and the Arrow, he knows the risks and he still chose you. The only one scared of getting hurt is you.”

Oliver was speechless, there was simply no arguments left and the only thing he could do, if he wanted to keep lying to himself, would be thank Diggles for the advice and wish him good night and bury his feelings deeper than ever. Instead he got up, walked over to his best friend and gave him a strong pat on the shoulder. “I think I wouldn’t be able to shoot any arrows for a few days because of this injury, so you guys will have to watch over the city for now.” He said and started to climb up the stairs.

“And where are you going now, Oliver?” The other man countered, an amused and smug coating his voice.

“Now? Home. Tomorrow? I was thinking of using my time off for some sightseeing, maybe visiting a few friends.” He replied calmly and, ignoring the chuckle behind him, left the foundry.

The very next day he was in Central city, standing in front of the police station he already knew from his previous research of when he met Barry. He knew what he had to do, he also could guess how it was going to go – or would it be how he wanted it to go? -, but he was still nervous. He took a deep breath and decided to get it over with, walking into the precinct and trying to figure out where the lab was. He saw a cop standing not too far off from the elevators, busily going through a file, and went over to him. The man oozed respect, confident air over him and aged enough to give the impression of being an experience cop. “Excuse me, I’m looking for Barry Allen, do you know where I can find him?” He asked with a polite smile. The cop looked away from the file and looked him up and down, and suddenly Oliver was worried he chose one of those arrogant cops that like to judge people simply because they have a little power over them.

“Let me guess, Oliver Queen.” He asked, surprising the younger man, but it sounded like he already knew the answer, and Oliver wondered why such a respectable looking cop was reading or watching the tabloids. “Nice to meet you, I’m Joe West, Barry’s adoptive father.” And suddenly he realised he wasn’t being recognised from being famous, he being recognised from something Barry said. And if the angry and unamused look on his face was anything to go by, Barry told more than Oliver wanted to be shared. Oliver nodded politely but the man did not extend a hand. Did he ever choose the wrong cop to ask for directions. “So, did you come here to fix things or make things worse?” He asked, raising an eyebrow and placing a hand on his hip, which conveniently pushed his jacket back and revealed a hoisted gun. Oliver smile remained the same.

“To fix things, I hope.” Oliver replied and Joe gave him another long, calculating look. If he was ever hoping to make a good first impression, that ship was long gone. He was about to give up hope and ask someone else, Joe clearly didn’t like him so he might as well be rude and go ask someone else, when the detective nodded towards the stairs behind him. “Thank you very much, mister West. I hope next time Barry talks about me it’ll be about better things.”

“Yeah, I hope so too. “ He replied and took a step forward. “I would hate to see news about the Flash kicking the Arrow ass, because that’s what I’ll train him to do if you ever hurt him again.” He whispered, giving a fairly strong pat on his injured shoulder, making the younger man grit his teeth, before walking off. Oliver was speechless, he did not expect a shovel talk - specially one like that - , though he was sure that being shot by the detective in case he messed things up was also an invisible threat if the show of the gun early was anything to go by. He chuckled before walking up the stairs and making his way to the lab.

He knocked on the door, but no answer came. He wondered for a moment if Joe had tricked him, but then there would be no need for that shovel talk, so he decides to go in without waiting for an invitation. The lab doesn’t surprise him very much, it was fairly normal, a bit messy, he thought Barry would be more organized, and far too many pizza boxes hidden on the corner and, sitting by a desk, a very focused forensic scientist completely focused on something he was looking at through a microscope. “Hey Joe, sorry but I haven’t finished with the analysis yet.” He said as he turned around and his eyes went slightly wide at the surprise visitor. “Well, you aren’t Joe.” He added and Oliver had to smile, how did he ever managed say no to this man?

“No, but I did run into him. Nice guy, seems to know a few things.” The billionaire replied, raising an eyebrow and silently mouthing the word arrow.

Barry simply shrugged. “I didn’t tell him. He kinda guessed it, with my trips to Starling and me accidently letting your name slip here and there.” He leaned back into his chair. “So what are you doing here?” He asked casually feigning curiosity, but Oliver could see in his eyes that the reason was very much known. 

Oliver fidgeted slightly, but did not give ground. “I was just in the area, decided to come and pay a visit.” Barry gave him a small smile as his mouthed an incredulous ‘oh’, and he was glad neither Felicity nor Roy was here to tell him how lame and weak that excuse was. He lived in Starling, how could he be in the area if not for very obvious reason involving Barry? “Fine, you win. I came here to see you, maybe take you out for lunch? On a date, maybe?” And now he feels so insecure, on the other hand Barry is smirking hugely. He can see in the speedster expression when something click on his mind, the smirk turning into a suspicious look and when he opens his mouth to speak Oliver raises a hand. “No, me asking you out instead of being asked is not the reason for me to accept the date. I just, well, had some people making me realise you know the danger of dating me and if you are willing to risk it then I can’t say no to you anymore.” He finishes and nods to himself, now he is the nervous one, very nervous in fact.

Barry looks somewhat pensive, he gets up and take a few steps towards the older man. “You are right, I do know the danger.” Oliver flinches, but then Barry gives him the gentlest of the smiles. “But I also know all the good you do and what an amazing guy you are Ollie.” He takes one more step and gently places his lips upon the archer’s. The kiss is tender and gentle, lips barely moving as Oliver place his hands on the speedster hips, but it’s an amazing feeling, like Barry is telling him all of his feelings without the need of words, and Oliver can’t help to smile into it. The younger man pull back, cheeks red as a tomato for a second, reaches for Oliver’s hand and give it a squeeze. “Let me just finish and save this report, five minutes, then we can go.” He nods and watch as his date moves back to the chair.

It takes two minute for Barry to finish it and they leave with smiles that go from ear to ear, but hands kept to themselves as they were still in Barry’s workplace. The date was simple, a small lunch on a close by fast food full of laughter and smiles, and if they gave obscene looks at each other when their eyes met surely no one was watching. On their way back they managed to sneak a kiss before separating, one more passionate but far too quick for Oliver’s liking. When evening came they went on a proper date, luck on their side as no big crime occurred, and they skipped dessert for getting back to Ollie’s place faster, his sister out for the night.

This time when they kiss it can be called anything but tender. Later, much later, the archer is laying on his back, somehow on the floor behind the couch, stroking the brunette locks of the man resting the head on his chest. “Thank you, for not saying no.” He whispered and felt the vibration as Barry chuckled and placed a gentle kiss on his bare chest. 


End file.
